Friends and family of Toronto filmmaker Rob Stewart, last seen in the waters near the Florida Keys on Tuesday afternoon, are keeping positive as the U.S. Coast guard continues its search.
“Everybody’s devastated but has been working around the clock to stay positive,” said family spokeswoman Victoria Gormley-Sherry, adding that Stewart’s parents are desperately asking for more help from volunteers.
“Everybody’s just trying to do everything we can.”
Stewart, 37, best known for his documentary Sharkwater, hasn’t been seen since 5 p.m. Tuesday, when he slipped underwater while scuba diving in an area called Alligator Reef. Since then, officials have been searching day and night by both air and sea.
An enormous volunteer effort, coordinated by Stewart’s family and friends, is also supplementing the Coast Guard search.
Tyler MacLeod, a close friend of Stewart’s, said the costs of sending out private aircraft and boats have reached over $100,000 so far, and they’ll need more help if the coast guard calls off its search.
“We are burning through our funding very quickly,” he said in a video posted to Facebook.
“We need to know we can forge forward alone.”
A gofundme.com page for the search effort has raised nearly $170,000 so far.
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